Jayd
Arabic name indicating a precious stone or gemstone.
Name Census estimates that about 452 living Americans carry the first name Jayd. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 74.6% of registrations being female. The average person named Jayd today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jayd births was 2001 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jayd. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Jayd with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
452
~ 1 in 758,306 Americans
Peak year
2001
27 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,497
Tracked since 1990
Census
Jayd in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 513 people with the first name Jayd, which placed it at #20,216 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#20,216
National first-name rank
People counted
513
513 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jayd
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jayd is White at 54.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.9%) and Black (15.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Jayd described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Jayd at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.6% · 280
- Hispanic or Latino18.9% · 97
- Black or African American15.0% · 77
- Two or more races7.6% · 39
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Jayd
Jayd is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 460 total registrations, 117 (25.4%) were male and 343 (74.6%) were female.
Jayd as a male name
- Ranked #11,497 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1993 (8 births)
Jayd as a female name
- Ranked #12,796 in 2022
- 7 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2001 (22 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jayd on both sides of the split. Of the 520 people counted with this name, 177 were male (34.0%) and 343 were female (66.0%).
Popularity
Jayd: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jayd from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 172 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jayd by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Jayd during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jayd
The name Jayd is a modern variant of the Arabic name Jad, which means "generosity" or "abundance." It is believed to have originated in the Middle East during the medieval period, where it was primarily used by Arab and Muslim communities.
The earliest recorded use of the name Jad can be traced back to the 7th century CE, when it appeared in various Arabic texts and historical records. It was a popular name among the nobility and upper classes, often given to sons who were expected to uphold the virtues of generosity and hospitality.
During the Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258 CE), the name Jad gained further prominence and was associated with several notable figures. One of the most famous was Jad al-Maliki, a renowned scholar and poet who lived in the 9th century CE. His works were widely celebrated for their eloquence and depth of thought.
As the Arabic influence spread across the Mediterranean and into Europe, the name Jad underwent various adaptations and spellings. In Spain, for instance, it was often rendered as "Jaide" or "Xaide," reflecting the influence of the Moorish culture on the Iberian Peninsula.
Over the centuries, the name has been borne by several other prominent individuals. In the 11th century CE, Jad al-Qudsi was a renowned Sufi mystic and poet from Damascus, known for his spiritual insights and beautiful verse. In the 12th century, Jad al-Rumi was a Persian mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the field of trigonometry.
More recently, in the 20th century, Jad Hatem was a Lebanese writer and journalist who played a crucial role in the country's literary renaissance. His novels and essays explored themes of identity, belonging, and the complexities of life in the Middle East.
The variant spelling "Jayd" is a more modern adaptation, likely influenced by the popularity of unique and unconventional name choices in recent decades. While it retains the Arabic roots and resonance of the original name, it also reflects a desire for individuality and creativity in naming practices.
People
Jayd + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jayd as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jayd: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jayd?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 452 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jayd going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 758,306 US residents.
Is Jayd a common name?
We classify Jayd as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 460 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jayd most popular?
The single biggest year for Jayd was 2001, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jayd is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jayd in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 513 people with the name Jayd, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,216 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Jayd in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Jayd?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jayd on both sides of the split. Of the 520 people counted with this name, 177 were male (34.0%) and 343 were female (66.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Jayd?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jayd is White at 54.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.9%) and Black (15.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Jayd most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jayd in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.6% (280 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Jayd in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jayd a female name?
Yes, 74.6% of people registered as Jayd in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Jayd still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jayd in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Jayd can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Jayd?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.